ISPs join forces to help families stay safe online

The UK’s largest broadband providers have come together on a campaign to help families stay safe online.

The £25 million pound campaign, funded by BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media is aimed at parents to raise awareness of how to tackle issues including cyber-bullying and access to adult content online. The scheme will also encourage and support parents to talk to their children about the safe use of the internet.

The nationwide campaign, backed by advertising and marketing, encourage and support parents to talk to their children about how they can stay safe online. The campaign will run for the next three years.

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Read Recombu Digital’s guide to Parental Internet SecurityAccording to research conducted on behalf of the broadband companies to inform the development of the campaign found that, while 83 per cent of parents have talked to their children about how to stay safe online, 81 per cent are unsure where to go to get good advice. The campaign will guide parents to expert help and recommendations about how to stay safe online.

“We’ve been focused on the issue of online safety since we developed the world’s first Cleanfeed filter to block child abuse images and made the technology available free to other ISPs across the world a decade ago,” said BT chief executive Gavin Paterson.

“BT will be launching a whole-home filter shortly to add to the tools we already make available for free to our customers, but awareness, expert advice and support are crucial in making sure that parents feel confident in using the protections that are offered by ISPs.”

“Being online opens up huge opportunities for us all and we believe technology helps make good things happen,” said Virgin Media chief executive Tom Mockridge.

“But there are also questions and challenges we need to tackle and, with significant support from across the broadband industry, this nationwide campaign will help ensure all our customers make the most of the parental controls, tools and information we provide to help them stay safe online.”